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Category: Books

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Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Get our Guide to Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism

Tablet with Guide to Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism

Please feel free to download and share with your friends. This unique PDF guide was written by me, Donald Robertson, with stunning artwork by our award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga and graphic designer Rocio de Torres. It provides the perfect introduction to the world of Marcus Aurelius as depicted in our new graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, which you can order now from all good bookstores.

Order Verissimus

People often ask for a simple introduction to the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, so we created one especially for you! This booklet draws on research conducted for several books I’ve written or edited about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism.

  • How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (St. Martins)
  • Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (St. Martins)
  • Marcus Aurelius: Ancient Lives (Yale)
  • Meditations: The Philosophy Classic (Capstone)

This printable PDF document will give you a good overview of the life of Marcus Aurelius, the times in which he lived and characters who influenced him, as well as the Stoic concepts and practices that shaped his life. As well as key information on Marcus Aurelius and Stoic philosophy, it contains comic book illustrations, genealogical diagrams, study questions, important quotations, and recommended reading.

If you’re a teacher, we’re confident you’ll find this booklet useful as a classroom aid. If you’re just interested in learning more about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism, it’s a great place to begin before starting to read the classics.

Contents

  1. The Stoic Goal of Life
  2. Three Stoic Practices
  3. Who were the Stoics?
  4. Who was Marcus Aurelius?
  5. The Imperial Succession
  6. Marcus’ Friends
  7. Marcus’ Enemies
  8. Questions, Quotes, and Reading
  9. About the Graphic Novel

If you’re completely new to Stoicism, it’s a good place to start. However, we can’t compress the whole philosophy into a few pages, it’s just a summary, so you will need to read the Stoics to gain a more complete understanding of their concepts and techniques.

Guide to Marcus Aurelius and StoicismDownload
Guide to Marcus Aurelius and StoicismDownload

If you enjoyed this free guide, please check out our new graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

Verissimus Front Cover
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Books Children Comics Stoicism

Stoicism for Kids

How can we teach our kids some Stoic philosophy?

Stoicism has exploded in popularity over the past couple of decades. One of the questions I’m now asked most frequently, by teachers and parents, is whether there are any good resources available to help kids learn about Stoic philosophy. The answer is YES, although you may need helping finding them.

Basic Lessons

There are many aspects of Stoicism that you could discuss with children but it makes sense to start by focusing on some basic principles. You can demonstrate Stoic philosophy in action quite easily by using what psychologists call the “thinking aloud” technique. This is a form of “cognitive modelling” which lets you show your children how you, the parent, might use simple Stoic ideas to guide your own decisions. For example:

  • Some things are up to us and others are not, which you can demonstrate simply by asking of some challenging event “What aspects are up to me?” or “What can and can’t I control about this situation?”
  • It’s not things that upset us but rather our opinions about them, which you can model by asking “How might other people view this situation differently?” or “What would be a better way of looking at this whole thing?”


The Stoics taught that it’s better to lead by example than through books and lectures, although there’s a place for both. Kids can’t read your mind, though, so the “thinking aloud” technique can be a useful way to provide a window on your thought processes. That lets you model a healthy way of tackling a problem, which you’d like your kids to gradually learn. This should be done as naturally as possible, of course, so demonstrating a little bit at a time, over a long period, perhaps works best if you’re a parent or teacher.

Read the rest of this article on Medium…

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Books Marcus Aurelius Philosophy of CBT Stoicism

Japanese Translation of The Philosophy of CBT

I’m honoured to announce that the Japanese translation of my book The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy is now available from Kongo Shuppan. Shota Fuji, the translator, and his colleagues, have worked hard to create this book, under the supervision of Dr. Kaito Towhata. Another of my books, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, is currently available in Japanese, from CCC Media House.

Below is an interview I did with Echan Deravy, who was kind enough to translate the entire thing into Japanese.

Japanese_Interview_by_Echan_DeravyDownload

The Japanese translation of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, with cover design by manga artist Mari Yamazaki (Twitter).

Japanese_Cover_Roman_Emperor
Categories
Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Stoicism Web Comics

Below you can read three sample web comics about the Stoic philosophy of Marcus Aurelius that I created with award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga. Each one links a passage in the Meditations with one of Aesop’s Fables. (Marcus mentions the Town Mouse fable in the Meditations.)

These web comics led to a much bigger project, our graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, available now from all good bookstores. See our publisher, St. Martin’s website for details of special offers available if you preorder.

Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

You can click on the web comic images to open them in a new window and should then be able to download them or zoom using your browser.

Marcus Aurelius Web Comic 1
Marcus Aurelius Web Comic 2
Marcus Aurelius Web Comic 3

Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Sample Pages from Verissimus

Flipping through the pages of Verissimus

These are photos of the final print version of Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, our graphic novel, which is due for publication by St. Martin’s Press on 14th June in hardback and ebook formats. See the preorder promotion page for special offers if you order now.

Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Verissimus, the graphic novel

Verissimus Preorder Banner

A superb graphic novel that provides stunning insights into one of the most interesting figures of antiquity, as well as into the philosophy that guided him throughout his life.

Massimo Pigliucci, author of How to Be a Stoic
Verissimus Cover Lightning

More info on where to order Verissimus is available from Macmillan, the publisher’s website. Also see listings in Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Comic stores can order Verissimus from the Diamond Previews World catalogue. Follow our Verissimus Facebook and Instagram pages for updates. Please contact us for podcast interviews and media requests.

About the Author

Donald Robertson is one of my favorite writers about Stoicism.

Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Daily Stoic

Donald Robertson is a cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, who lives in Canada and Greece. He is the author of six books on philosophy and psychotherapy. His bestselling self-help book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor has been translated into eighteen languages.

Zé Nuno Fraga, who created the artwork, is an award-winning illustrator from Portugal. Kasey Pierce, who advised on the content, is an award-winning author and comic book editor.

Preorder Promotion

St. Martin’s are currently running a preorder promotion that means anyone buying Verissimus may be eligible for three different prizes.

Marcus and Commodus Verissimus

Sample Articles and Interviews

Donald has appeared on over 100 podcasts.

Japanese cover for How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by award-winning manga artist Mari Yamazaki.
Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Get Verissimus for 25% off at Barnes and Noble

Good news! We’re delighted to announce that from Wednesday 26th until Friday 28th January, for three days, you can get 25% off when pre-ordering either the ebook or hardback edition of our new graphic novel from Barnes and Noble, in the US. NB: Make sure you enter the special offer code PREORDER25 when ordering to claim your discount!

Claim your discount

Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius is a philosophical epic, 2-3 years in the making, a 250pp. full-colour publication with stunning artwork from our award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga. It’s like Gladiator meets The Meditations: and combines a lot of carefully researched historical action, from the life of Marcus Aurelius, with philosophical insights from Stoicism. Go to Barnes and Noble now, and claim your discount using the code above.

We hope you enjoy the book and look forward to hearing your comments.

Regards,

Donald Robertson Signature

Donald Robertson

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Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus Videos

Verissimus Video: Marcus Aurelius

Check out this amazing video that Kasey made on Instagram, and follow our account for more artwork and notifications on the forthcoming graphic novel, Verissimus.

Categories
Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus

More Artwork from Marcus Aurelius Graphic Novel

You can now follow @verissimusgraphicnovel on Instagram for sample artwork and notifications about our forthcoming graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

Categories
Books Stoicism

NEW: Paperback of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

I’m very pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the paperback edition of my latest book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, published by St. Martin’s Press. It is due out in the US on 4th August 2020 and will be available in most other countries around the same time.

If you don’t already have a copy, check it out, as the paperback is almost half the price of the original hardback edition. Amazon are also currently offering a discount off the price. In fact, if you order now you’ll benefit from the Amazon pre-order price guarantee, which basically means you’ll get it for the cheapest price offered between now and the publication date. So you might get a bargain!

When it was released in April last year, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor became the #1 top-selling book on philosophy in the US. It’s recently been #1 new release on Amazon for Greek and Roman philosophy. It’s already available in eight different languages, with more to follow. It’s since been reviewed/rated by over 340 people on Amazon, and over 2,370 people on Goodreads! The audiobook has also been reviewed/rated by over 1,550 listeners on Audible.

Get the Paperback

Hope you enjoy reading or listening, and, as always, please feel free to get in touch if you have any comments or questions.

Regards,

Donald Robertson Signature